Police Culture in a Changing World

Bethan Loftus

Description

This fascinating new title offers an ethnographical investigation of contemporary police culture based on extensive field work across a range of ranks and units in the UK's police force. By drawing on over 600 hours of direct observation of operational policing in urban and rural areas and interviews with over 60 officers, the author assesses what impact three decades of social, economic and political change have had on police culture. She offers new understandings of the policing of ethnicity, gender and sexuality, and the ways in which reform initiatives are accommodated and resisted within the police. The author also explores the attempts of one force to effect cultural change both to improve the working conditions of staff and to deliver a more effective and
equitable service to all groups in society.

Beginning with a review of the literature on police culture from 30 years ago, the author goes on to outline the new social, economic and political field of contemporary British policing. Taking this as a starting point, the remaining chapters present the main findings of the empirical research in what is a truly comprehensive analysis of present day policing culture.

Police Culture in a Changing World

Bethan Loftus

Author Information

Bethan Loftus is a post-doctoral Research Fellow at the Centre for Criminology, University of Oxford, specializing in policing and police cultures and policing social divisions. She holds an MA in Comparative Criminology and Criminal Justice and first class honors degree in criminology and criminal justice, both from the University of Wales.

Police Culture in a Changing World

Bethan Loftus

Reviews and Awards

"Bethan Loftus' research makes a major contribution to the analysis of contemporary policing, and of the impact of the extensive reform initiatives of the last quarter of a century. It does this by replicating the classic studies of police culture conducted from the early 1960s to the early 1980s, which constituted the core foundations of the understanding of policing. This book would thus fill a hole in the analysis of policing that has long required plugging. It does this in an outstanding way that matches the very best of the classic studies."
--Professor Robert Reiner, Professor of Criminology, London School of Economics